Two congressmen say they will introduce legislation today to require hybrid cars to emit some kind of noise that blind pedestrians could hear.
Democratic Rep. Edolphus Towns of New York and Republican Rep. Cliff Stearns of Florida will file the bill that would force the Transportation Department to come up with rules that would require hybrids to send out a warning signal, according to The Associated Press.
The National Federation of the Blind
wants the legislation. The group suggests
all vehicles must emit what they call a minimum sound.
The group
has sponsored a study showing that when hybrids are going slower than 25 miles per hour, they do not make enough noise for people to know they are approaching. Not only are the blind affected, but so are runners, children and cyclists.
There are no studies yet that show blind people have been injured at a higher rate by hybrid cars, but the technology is admittedly so new, and there are still so few vehicles on the road, that it may be too early to tell.
CORRECTION: Due to an editing error, this post originally stated that the two
congressmen represent Maryland. Their states have been corrected.
There's apparently a black lining in every cloud. Urban denizens...
